All that is Solid Melts into a Traffic Jam

Speaking of Madison, it has been difficult to avoid the publicity surrounding former Daily Cardinal entertainment editor Tom Vanderbilt's "Traffic." This book got perhaps the most coveted space in the East Coast literary establishment: the front of the New York Times book review last Sunday.
Vanderbilt surprised everyone in the book world by getting an advance of about $500,000 from Knopf. Such a figure is usually unheard of except for established airport novels by Tom Clancy, John Grisham etc. Would the hoi polloi really shell out $25 for a tome on "why we drive the way we do, and what is says about us?"
Tom is an excellent writer who has written very cleverly about some unusual subjects. He wrote a book about sneakers; how the modest gym shoe became a multibillion dollar industry and icon. His other is called Survival City, wherein he tours underground cities and bunker complexes made to withstand nuclear war and its aftermath.
The new book is surprisingly interesting, with boring statistics kept to a minimum. He explains such mysteries as why the other lane is always moving faster, whether women or men create more traffic, and how being an asshole aggresive "late merger" at construction sites etc is actually good for traffic.
Tom is on a media tour, and has a blog ("traffic signals")that monitors his progress (like other young writers, he has been seemingly mandated to live in Brooklyn). Even if you're not a would-be nerd urban planner like me, it's worth reading.